A Gracious Team
Eloise Bune | Founder + CEO
Eloise founded Gracious Eloise in 2008, and has guided the company through the groundbreaking development of our QuillTech™ and Snowflake Algorithm™ technologies.
Eloise holds a Masters Degree in Fine and Decorative Arts from Cambridge University and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Italian Studies from Wheaton College.
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Paul Strachman | Chief Operating Officer and EVP Strategy
Paul joined us in 2012 to help manage the growth of the company after he fell in love with the product when facing the daunting task of writing hundreds of wedding thank you cards. Prior to that, Paul served as the VP Member Strategy at Equinox, where he led their core business growth efforts for 5 years, spanning from the member engagement strategy to their technology platform. Paul was also a consultant at Bain and Company, focused on Retail, Consumer Goods and Financial Services.
Paul holds a BSc/MSc in Engineering from Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees, a MSc in Finance and Economics from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Stanford University.
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James Linder | VP of Engineering
James is responsible for all aspects of the technology of Gracious Eloise. He joined Gracious Eloise with 13 years of software and product development experience in the local, education, business intelligence and consumer spaces.
Prior to Gracious Eloise, James held leadership positions at startups including Tykoon, SinglePlatform, Wimba and Cetova. As VP of Engineering at Tykoon, he launched the public beta, oversaw multiple major overhauls of the service and built and streamlined the development process. As VP of Engineering at SinglePlatform, he built the technology and team that allowed SinglePlatform to be acquired for $100 million. At Wimba, he was Director of Engineering through the acquisition by Blackboard and where he added features to their virtual classroom product, scaled their instant messaging service to support hundreds of thousands of concurrent users and facilitated transitioning the software development processes from Waterfall to Scrum.
James holds an MS in Information Systems from New York University and a BA in Computer Science from Skidmore College.
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Doe Kim | Manager of Operations
Doe joins us from Equinox where she focused on corporate strategy, planning and financial and operations analysis. Prior to that, she worked in investment banking at UBS.
Doe holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a minor in Engineering Management from Cornell University.
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Sam Ehlers | Software Engineer
Sam is a software developer driven by a desire to make the user experience better. He has over 9 years experience developing, architecting, integrating, and administering computer systems.
Sam holds an Associates Degree in Computer Network Systems from ITT Technical Institute.
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Jean-Philippe Boily | Software Engineer
Jean-Philippe – a guy best described as open-minded, solution-driven and as displaying an always positive attitude – strives to engineer features in a clear, simple and efficient fashion. JP has over 10 years of experience in software development and system administration
Jean-Philippe holds a DCS in Computer technology from CEGEP d’Alma of Quebec, Canada.
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Ben Fisher | Software Engineer
Ben Fisher uses technology to enhance the human experience. He previously worked as a Software Engineer at Comcast Corporation on the Xfinity brand which included Xfinity Home, Xfinity Connect, and Xfinity TV, creating digital entertainment experiences for Comcast’s 30 million customers. He led the front-end team on a company-wide internal analytics effort for the company’s cable modems and was lead full-stack developer on Comcast’s Constant Guard product. Ben has previous startup experience at a company he started with his friends after school attempting to put microwind turbines on top of NYC skyscrapers where he worked with major real estate companies around New York with some surprising success stories.
Ben graduated with a degree in Philosophy from Washington University in St. Louis.
Joubin Houshyar | Software Engineer
Joubin joined the team in order to work on the Gracious Eloise servers, and to contribute and improve system design and architecture.
Joubin studied electrical engineering at Rensselaer and architecture at Columbia; he is self-taught in software and has been programming since his teens. He is drawn to, and enjoys, creative activities such as painting, drawing, and writing.
Samantha Cummings | Customer Engagement & Tech Support
Samantha is best known for her positive attitude, professional demeanor, and unwavering commitment to her customers. Samantha has an extensive customer service background in multiple industries.
Samantha is a graduate of the Loyola University Chicago’s business school.
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